The Italian Navy built two classes of escort destroyers or torpedo
boats, the Spica and the Ariete classes. These classes differed
only in the armament carried.

PT Dockyard, a cottage-firm that manufacturers 1/600 scale resin
coastal craft for war gaming, has issued a kit of a Spica class
ship. This kit, along with their Ariete class, is the largest attempted
by PT Dockyard and can be considered a departure for them. Since the ships
are nearly identical, they are basically the same kit but with different
main and secondary armament. The kit comes with a waterline one-piece hull
casting with deck housings, two lifeboats, and other details. Additional
parts include a one piece bridge- superstructure and stack assembly, the
rear superstructure, the upper bridge complete with a gun director, 3-3.9"
turrets, 4-single 20mm guns, 2-twin 20mm Bredas with a white plastic disk
to serve as the gun tub floor for one of them, and 4-single torpedo tubes.
The casting of this model is the best so far for PT Dockyard, but it still
requires some clean up and some filling of pinholes and seams. The delicate
guns require trimming from their casting sheets and must be handled carefully.

There is a one-page set of hand-drawn assembly diagrams that are
simple to follow. It shows the proper placement of the supersturctures
and the placment of the armament. The sheet also includes basic painting
instructions with a line drawing showing the camouflage scheme used. Instructions
point out where to paint the red and white stripes typically found on Regia
Marina ships. Specific colors are not provided, but it is apparent that
the camouflage scheme comprised of a standard warship gray and a dark gray.
Some color tips for painting the deck would have been helpful. However,
the assembly instructions are much improved over past kits that I have
seen.

One must bear in mind that this model was made for war gaming
and lacks some of the fine details that some folks are used to seeing with
the more expensive resin kits. But the Spica is among the best casting
that I have seen from PT Dockyard to date. I like this kit and, as with
all subjects in their line, they can be made into a very nice model with
some photoetch. PT Dockyard
kits are available via direct mail order, so follow the link above for
a price list and ordering instructions.